Path of the Vampire forum

Additional Information

Proof of Rule Breaking.

• Although I will watch out for RP crossing on my forum, I cannot do anything about crossing that took place (in part or full) over YM, IRC, or any other off-site place for which I have no log or record. I only have people's word for those accusations. So if you feel like somebody has taken OOC information from an IM convo and then used it in roleplay or game here, there's not a thing I can do about it. Sorry.
  
  The one exception to this is attacks on moderators over mod-related decisions. When you verbally attack a moderator in regard to moderator-made decisions it becomes the site's business, and you will be punished. Complaining is fine, as long as you don't insult and harass moderators over their decisions. If the matter is unrelated to moderation, then nothing you say off-site to a moderator is my business.

NIA/Harassment Policy.

• If a player feels they are being harassed by anyone OOC (we cannot prevent roleplay characters from harassing one another, as this is valid interaction UNLESS the harassment was OOC to begin with), there are number of things that can be done, depending on the severity of the harassment. These "NIA" (non-interaction agreement) steps can also be initiated if there is general bad blood between two players, but you are unlikely to be able to get a full NIA with another player unless the issues are continuous, and we have on-site evidence.
  
  Here are the details of the steps you should take if you wish to start the NIA process with somebody you are having problems with:
  
  [Step 1] - Prior to Requesting a Non Interaction Agreement
  • If you feel harassed or bullied by somebody, or if you feel that you're unable to continue playing Path of the Vampire while a person is active and interacting with you, you can request a Non Interaction Agreenment.
    
    However, before requesting an NIA you will need to do the following:
    
    1. Send the player in question a private message yourself*, and CC a moderator. Explain politely that you no longer wish to interact with them, and as such you won't be responding to any IC or OOC provocation, or their posts in general.
    
    2. Add them to your foes list on the forum so that their posts do not show up.
    
    3. Ignore them completely, and stick to your word. The mods will be aware that you're doing your part to avoid trouble, and if you go back on this then the mods will no longer get involved in the issue.
    
    If the problem continues and is serious and constant, even with NO response from yourself or your character, then you can request an NIA.
    
    The mods will look for evidence of harassment, bullying, or general OOC tension between you both, and if the problem seems to be large enough we'll step in and issue a formal NIA. Either party breaking this NIA will receive punishments.
    
    * If you feel that you cannot contact them yourself, we can do so on your behalf, and simply pass along the message that you won't be retaliating or replying any longer.'
  
  [Step 2] - The Formal Non Interaction Agreement
  • This stage of the NIA process means you cannot interact (IC or OOC) on the forum, chats, grid emails, and grid speak or fight, attack, and antagonize in game at all. You should also refrain from speaking to one another in chat rooms. To put it simply, Leave each other alone in any and all aspects of the game.
    
    A full, step 2 NIA is given if there is evidence of bad OOC blood (or harassment) between the two people, and the bad blood is ongoing and continuous. The issues between the two people in question will have to be very serious for them to be given a step 2 NIA. If you wish your stage 1 NIA to be processed to a step 2 NIA, it is important that you report it to the admins whenever the other person insults you, harasses you, or seriously trolls you. The admins will keep records of all these incidents, so that they can decide when something has gone too far and deserves a step 2 NIA.
    
    You should also be aware that those reaching stage 2 NIAs are automatically put on watch for crossing. If you attack the person you have a step 2 NIA with, and you are a roleplayer, you will also likely be seen as crossing, as the OOC bad blood outweighs any IC reasoning by that point. It should be noted, however, that you can also initiate a crossing complaint at any time, as described in the first post.
  Punishment for breaking an NIA is instant banning from the forum and game both. The first time will be one month and it will increase in time from there. Perma-banning is possible if you continuously break your NIA, just like if you continually break the rules.
  
  Please note: Merely repeatedly attacking you in game does NOT count as harassment. That's just part of the game. However, if you have a solid reason to believe that a roleplay character is attacking your character for non-roleplay reasons, then we can punish them for what is known as "crossing".

"I'm Leaving" Threads.

• Please do not post threads dedicating to you leaving the game. All they do is cause problems and drama. All such threads will be deleted, sorry.
  
  While it's fair to want to say goodbye to your friends you can do it in private without making a big fuss. Alternatively, you can post your goodbyes on the "away / not here" thread.

Roleplay Transcript Posting.

• In general, live roleplay transcripts can only be posted if ALL those involved post a proportionate amount of the log. This ensures that everyone involved has given permission for it to be posted and that they get an equal share of the RPP reward (when posting to a board where RPP can be earned).
  
  Large public events do not carry the same expectation of privacy, so permission to post is assumed when entering the event. For this to apply however, those hosting the event must clearly state in the OOC planning thread (before the event runs) how they will be posting the transcript when the RP is complete. They have one of two options:
  • The event transcript will be posted by one person. This person will not earn any RPP in doing so, as the thread will be posted in an OOC area and moved by a moderator when complete.
  • The event transcript will be split up and divided among all those that took part. All those who took part will be expected to post a proportionate section of the transcript.
  Crownet doesn't allow for audio uploads, so posting a transcript would be pure text, and therefore not proof.
  - Why? Because if YiM can't be used as proof OUT of character, then it shouldn't be used as a "voice recording" IN character, because logs can be doctored. For transcripts to be posted IC all those involved would have to be in agreement as to how the transcript was made; i.e. they were chatting online, they were in a recorded meeting, etc.
  
  Note: All live transcript rules apply to IC posts too.
  
  General Transcript Advice: Determine which format of RP you are participating in before going in-character. Cellphone conversation? Online RP chat? Or face-to-face RP? If you can't agree on that, then there can't be an RP between the characters.

Roleplay Tags, the Hardcore Forum & the Official Event Forum

[[Open] Tag] Roleplay threads marked with the [Open] tag gain a 50% RPP bonus. As such, if you use this tag the thread in question must be open to ALL, not just select individuals, or races, or faction members.

Closed threads cannot be edited to use the [open] tag after the thread has already been specified as "closed" or similar. This also means that in order for live roleplay transcript threads to be "open", they must be held in a public in-game location, with 24 hours prior notice posted on the planning board. Otherwise they aren't open, they are closed. This rule regarding live transcripts also applies if you're posting a backlog of posts you've written on Google Docs with somebody, or similar. If you want to do that, space out your posts in order to make the thread truly open to all. If you never specified that your thread was closed in any way, you may edit it to use the "[open]" tag as you see fit.

Lastly, you must not use the "[open]" tag in the subject line unless the original poster used it on the very first post. Doing so will be seen as exploiting the system to gain RPP from a thread which isn't properly marked as open.

[[ARES] Tag] Threads using the [ARES] tag in the title gain 50% bonus RPP for every post. As such, a person should only use this tag, and people should only reply if they wish to respond to ARES prompts.

[Hardcore Forum] The Hardcore Forum gives 2x RPP for every post made there, and operates by its own rules, which are designed to make roleplay more open and random, less controlled or scripted.

[Official Event Roleplay] Posts made on the Official Event Roleplay forum gain 2x RPP. This forum is used for official events, stories and quests surrounding chapters, side stories, competitions, and threads GMed by the GM team.